Washington, D.C. – Following news that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued three of the largest Medicare Advantage insurers for allegedly paying brokers hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks to steer customers toward their plans and to steer clear of potential enrollees with disabilities, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“Private Medicare Advantage plans routinely fail to deliver quality care—especially for seniors and the most vulnerable—and are among the most wasteful, fraudulent, and abusive actors in our healthcare system,” said Emma Freer, Senior Policy Analyst for Healthcare at the American Economic Liberties Project. “For years, these firms have driven seniors into worse care with deceptive marketing and discrimination, but now it’s clear they’re crooks too—bribing brokers behind closed doors because they know no one would choose these plans on a level playing field. We’re thrilled to see the DOJ crack down on Aetna, Elevance Health, and Humana—three vertically-integrated Fortune 40 Big Medicine conglomerates—and urge the DOJ to move swiftly on its ongoing monopolization and fraud investigations in the largest Medicare Advantage plan provider, UnitedHealth Group.”

Medicare Advantage is the privatized version of Medicare and now covers more than half of Medicare patients. Intended to lower costs and improve quality, Medicare Advantage has had the opposite effect. The program is expected to cost taxpayers 20% more per enrollee – or $84 billion annually – than traditional Medicare in 2025. Meanwhile, Medicare Advantage plans deny claims at much higher rates, stranding vulnerable seniors without medically-necessary care to further pad their own profits. Despite its promises to crack down on such wasteful spending, the Trump administration recently announced it would substantially increase payments to private Medicare Advantage plans in 2026, rewarding their bad behavior.

Learn more about Medicare Advantage here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties’ Break Up Big Medicine initiative to address healthcare consolidation here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here. 

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.